The Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA) has replaced the Nigerian Basketball female team, D’tigress, with Mali’s team. This decision was confirmed by the association in a statement given at Mies, Switzerland on Thursday. The association invited the Mali team to replace D’tigress as they are the next in line in terms of ranking in the group B qualifiers.
D’tigress has qualified for the world cup competition as early as February this year but would, unfortunately, be unable to participate in the competition that would be held in Australia from the 22nd of September to the 1st of October. This is because of the ban placed by the federal government in May on all Basketball teams from participating in international games.
The Federation of International Basketball Associations has however said that they would be addressing the ban on Nigerian Basketball teams later to decide if there would be any disciplinary measures on the team
“Despite FIBA’s request, it has become clear that against the circumstances created by the government’s decision, the NBBF is unable to confirm its participation in the World Cup.”
